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On the whole, Survivor: Worlds Apart was an underwhelming season that was severely hampered by its mostly cringeworthy cast of characters — likeable players like Joe and Tyler were overshadowed by bigots like Dan, Rodney and Will or bland characters like Hali and Sierra.

Fortunately, Wednesday’s finale salvaged some of the season’s respectability — Carolyn and Mike were worthy finalists — but the fact the series’ 31st season will return to the tried, tested and true formula of bringing back returning players shows the producers have momentarily given up on trying to recreate the magic of Survivor: Cagayan. In fact, while Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance will not air until the fall, most of Wednesday’s reunion special was dedicated to hyping the upcoming season. That was, of course, after they cleared up a lot of the sexism and misogyny that plagued this season.

Between a tightly contested, and somewhat pathetic, fire-building challenge, one of the most memorable final tribal councils in recent memory and a reunion special that tackled controversial issues, here’s everything you need to know about the season finale.

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And Then There Were Five

Picking up right where last week left off, Carolyn returned to camp with a big smile on her face. After all, she had just played her hidden immunity idol to protect herself from being voted out. Mama C was aware that everyone but Mike had voted for her, but she kept her wits about her and played down the fact that her entire alliance turned on her.

“Mike had my back, but he doesn’t have the numbers so I’m not going to be all upset with them voting for me. I need them,” said Carolyn. “Now I know how I sit with my alliance.”

The season’s last reward challenge was its biggest one, as the winner not only got an advantage in the next immunity challenge but would be able to bring a family member to spend the night at camp with them.

Mike put together another dominant performance in the challenge and, while Will gave him a run for his money (yes, you read that correctly), he won the reward with relative ease. Having his mother at camp gave him a much-needed emotional boost, but the advantage he won proved to be even bigger.

Before the second-to-last immunity challenge, which would see each castaway navigate a maze and collect four medallions while blindfolded, Mike was given a 30-minute trial run with his mother able to help guide him through the maze. Mike’s mother proved to be a terrible guide, but the Texan still won the immunity necklace with ease.

Rodney and Will voted for Sierra while Sierra and Carolyn voted for Rodney, which made Mike the swing vote. He elected to stick with the men and vote out Sierra.

Fire Building 101

When you talk about the most dominant physical players to ever compete on Survivor, names like Colby Donaldson, Ethan Zohn, Ozzy Lusth and J.T. Thomas come to mind. It’s time to add Mike to that list.

Since his blunder at the Survivor Auction, Mike needed to win every single immunity challenge to stay alive. So how did he respond? By winning five of the ensuing six (he played his hidden immunity idol for the one he didn’t win), including the one that guaranteed him a spot at the final tribal council.

Going into the penultimate tribal council, Mike’s decision seemed like a simple one: vote out Carolyn and sit next to two of the season’s most hated players (Rodney and Will) in the finals. Instead, Mike told Carolyn he would vote for Rodney because of how Sierra, Rodney and Dan all turned their backs on him and his Blue Collar Alliance.

After Rodney and Carolyn each received two votes, they were forced to duke it out in a fire-building challenge, the rules of which were simple: build a fire high enough to burn through a rope. The winner would sit next to Mike and Will at final tribal, while the loser would become the final member of the jury.

Sounds simple enough for two people who had spent the last 38 days living in the wilderness. Not so much.

After 53 minutes of failed attempts and broken pieces of flint, Rodney sparked a flame, but instead of building it up slowly he threw in all of his coconut husk, which failed to get it to the required height. Carolyn sparked a flame shortly after Rodney and built her fire methodically with a strong wooden teepee, which won the challenge.

“If you were alone (in the wilderness) you would be in trouble,” Jeff Probst said.

White Collar, Blue Collar and No Collar

For a season that began as White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar, it only seemed fitting that one representative of each tribe made it to the final tribal council by playing distinct games that fit in with their assigned social classes.

Mike dominated in challenges and more than lived up to his Blue Collar label by pulling his weight at camp. Carolyn’s game was purely strategic, as she navigated her way through different alliances while eliminating the most pressing threats along the way. And then you have Will. Aptly described by Shirin as a dead fish, Will is best described as a social player, but he was only brought to the finals because both Mike and Carolyn knew they could beat him.

The final tribal was shorter than in previous years — they skipped the finalists’ opening and closing statements — but it had a number of memorable moments:

Rodney asked Carolyn about her game plan and she talked about mirroring her style of play to her real-life job in corporate America. “In my business world you have Plan A, you have Contingency Plan 1, Contingency Plan 2,” she said. “Mike was a backup plan to get to the (finals).”

Tyler asked Mike about the social aspects of his game, which forced him to confess to his social shortcomings. “I guess the only redeeming thing that I can sit here and say is that I suck; maybe I’m not as genuine as I’ve always thought myself to be,” said Mike.

Instead of asking the finalists a question, Jenn addressed the jury in a way that only a No Collar could and told them exactly what she thought of them. “Half of you are the most bitter people I have ever met in my life and angry at people who played better than you. You are so mad at Mike for playing . . . Mike is the only player who outwitted, outplayed and outlasted. If you’re a fan then you’re going to vote for who deserves it . . . get over it,” she said.

Last, but certainly not least, Shirin followed up an emotional speech in which she called Mike her protector by comparing Mike to a howler monkey, Carolyn to a stingray and Will to a dead fish.

After the dust had settled, it was revealed that Mike won the title of Sole Survivor and the $1-million prize by a landslide. But while Mike’s title was well deserved, Probst perfectly summed up our feelings on the season during at the end of the one-hour reunion special.

“Thank you for your loyalty even when you don’t like everybody,” he said.

The Reunion Special

Worlds Apart has garnered a lot of negative criticism about the way that some of the contestants, namely Dan and Will, spoke about women. In an attempt to clear the air, Probst tackled the subjects of misogyny and sexism during the reunion special.

First off, Probst confronted Dan about his sexist comments about Shirin. Since he was voted off, Dan has accused Survivor of taking some of his comments out of context, but he still gave Shirin a heartfelt, public apology for the verbal abuse.

“I own up to my faults and I own up to my successes. That was a fault and I’m sorry, I was wrong,” he said, adding that he would have never made those comments had he known about her abusive past.

After confronting Dan with some raw footage that proved his crude comments about Rodney’s mother were unprovoked and not taken out of context by the show’s producers, Probst asked Dan a blunt question that was on everyone’s minds: does he have anything against women?

“I don’t have a prejudice against women, I don’t have a prejudice against anybody . . . I certainly didn’t mean to be hurtful,” he said.

Moving on, Probst confronted Will about the comments he made about Shirin at a tribal council, comments for which he claimed to have already apologized, both immediately after filming and after the episode aired.

“I don’t feel he’s even made a genuine apology as of now . . . he stood by what he did all the way up through the episode, after the episode and only days afterwards when the public opinion was largely negative did he cave and send me a weak apology,” said Shirin.

Like Dan, Will said he would never have made those comments had he known about her past, and he publicly apologized to Shirin and her family.

“I should have never spoken to you that way,” he said.

Then Probst revealed which returning contestants would compete in Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance.

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